Pompeo says US should limit which human rights it defends

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued Thursday for a more limited U.S. view of global human rights advocacy based on the principals laid out by America’s Founding Fathers, a suggestion critics assumed meant stepping away from more modern concepts such as support for women and the LGBQT communities around the world.

Pompeo, speaking in Philadelphia, singled out property rights and religious freedom as “foremost” principals in a speech that elsewhere complained about the “proliferation” of protections in international agreements related to human rights.

“We are forced to grapple with tough choices about which rights to promote and how to think about this,” he said. “Americans have not only unalienable rights, but also positive rights granted by governments, courts and multilateral bodies. Many are worth defending in light of our founding; others aren’t.”

Pompeo on Thursday released a report produced by the Commission on Unalienable Rights, which he tasked last year with conducting a broad review of U.S. human rights policy, arguing at the time that it had “lost its bearings.”

-snip-

By BEN FOX
37 minutes ago


Read more: https://apnews.com/5ede767e136d846bdd06700f11ca51f2

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Source: The Guardian

Pompeo claims private property and religious freedom are 'foremost' human rights

US secretary of state seeks to refocus US human rights efforts as he launches report by government commission

Julian Borger in Washington
Thu 16 Jul 2020 22.51 BST
First published on Thu 16 Jul 2020 22.40 BST

Mike Pompeo has sought to redefine the US approach to human rights by giving preference to private property and religious freedom as the foremost “unalienable rights” laid down by America’s Founding Fathers.

Pompeo, launching a draft report by a Commission on Unalienable Rights he established a year ago, also claimed that a proliferation of human rights asserted by different US and international institutions had the effect of diluting those rights he viewed as the most important.

“Many are worth defending in light of our founding; others aren’t,” Pompeo said at a launch ceremony in Philadelphia. He did not specify which rights he thought were superfluous, but the state department during his tenure has been aggressive in opposing references to reproductive and gender rights in UN and other multilateral documents.

In the report launched on Thursday, the authors – a mix of academics and activists – said they could not agree on the application of human rights standards to issues like “abortion, affirmative action, and capital punishment, to name a few”.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/16/pompeo-claims-private-property-and-religious-freedom-are-foremost-human-rights

[AllaN01Bear]

1. church and property rights should be last , not first

[sop]

8. Add corporate rights to the ones at the very bottom of the list.

[irisblue]

2. Him, I will never miss when he leaves

[DEbluedude]

3. Wow! Just fuckin' wow.

[Ferrets are Cool]

4. Pompous Pompeo is an ignorant asswipe.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Clean air and water would never make it to his list

but without them, what have you got?

[Red Mountain]

6. Subtitle: Pompeo thinks maybe slavery is OK

Meh......they were property, Founding Fathers, right?

We'll ignore all that separation of church and state stuff you guys went on about. Some ideas can evolve just not the ones we don't like, amiright?



This is off the charts crazy talk.

[CRK7376]

7. How about protecting and

defending all Human Rights you sleazebag.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Stupid, and vicious. Just what Trump wants. What a monster. Spokesman for the criminally insane. n/t

[sakabatou]

11. Holy fuck...

[bluewater]

12. THIS is just what China and Russia say!

That some human rights are "more important" than others, so they can ignore ones they find inconvenient!

My head is going to explode.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. My first thought too. Putin & Xi cheer. . . .nt

[not_the_one]

14. Pompeo now taking talking points from Bannon and Miller.

Hopefully he will have NO career after his stint as the turd's water (piss) boy.

[SunSeeker]

15. Republicans don't give a shit about humanity.

[Damn Yellowdawg Dem]

16. Rich & White? Got yer Back!

Everyone else can fuck off.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. And he defends the Confederate statues as people who fought for the Declaration of Independence

So these rights he wants to defend include the right to own humans, but not the right to be treated as equal on the basis of gender, sexuality or ethnicity - all huge holes in the concepts of rights of late 18th century American male white politicians. And it's not just a "maybe those aren't included" - he explicitly said the Confederates fought for the 18th century rights.

For good measure, he attacked the 1619 Project as making the USA look bad by pointing out the faults which pre-dated his precious "Founding Fathers" and which they continued. He's gone full McCarthy - calling the project "Marxist", which shows what an ignorant shit he is:

"The New York Times’s 1619 Project — so named for the year the first slaves were transported to America — wants you to believe our country was founded for human bondage. They want you to believe America’s institutions continue to reflect the country’s acceptance of slavery at our founding," Pompeo said. "They want you to believe Marxist ideology that America is only the oppressors and the oppressed. The Chinese Communist Party must be gleeful when they see the New York Times spout their ideology."

He added that "some people have taken these false doctrines to heart," and referenced the widespread tearing down of statues that President Donald Trump has railed against. Some of the targets have been Confederate generals and leaders, while some others have targeted tributes to the Founding Fathers and other historical figures because of their slave-owning histories or racist legacies.

"The rioters pulling down statues thus see nothing wrong with desecrating monuments to those who fought for unalienable rights — from our founding to the present day. This is a dark vision of America’s birth, I reject it," Pompeo said, before pointing to a quote from one of the country's best known abolitionists.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pompeo-bashes-media-says-american-life-under-attack-speech-unveiling-n1234103

[Javaman]

18. some animals are more equal than others. nt

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

19. Hey Pompeo

[lagomorph777]

20. OK. Lets' start with Pompeo's rights.

[Yeehah]

21. REMEMBER THEIR NAMES

when the time comes for a reckoning.

[BlueIdaho]

22. I want a reckoning NOW.

Time has come to make an example out of these bastards to anyone else who dreams of trying this shit again.